Now that the recent danger was past, each member of the Fullmetal Force settled into their usual roles as they waited for their ship to reach its destination. Silverwing kept watch over the auto pilot, keeping track of their progress. Goldarms used controls to pull the damaged gun inside the ship, gears groaning as it did. There he used his tools, a giant wrench and a welding torch, to remove the gun from its housing so one of the spares could be placed, a job that would take just under an hour. Coppershot double checked the engines with a hand scanner, but there didn’t seem to be any new damage.
Last, but not least, Ironmind sat down in his quarters, his eyes closed as he concentrated. A moment later, his face and body shifted, turning into a completely different man, with a slender build and a rounder face. His skin also shifted to a more human tone, a lighter shade than the tan skin he normally wore as a human. When he was finished transforming, he opened his eyes.
“Well?” asked Ironmind.
Sitting across from him, Goldshift frowned, he then held up a photo and a mirror. Ironmind had tried to imitate the man in the photo, but seeing it side by side with his reflection showed he was way off. The form he ended up with had a wider chin and sharper cheekbones. Ironmind grimaced, frustrated by his progress.
“Keep practicing,” said Goldshift.
Ironmind shook his head, transforming back into his own Valtarian self. “This is so much easier when I see my reflection as I change.”
“You won’t always have a mirror in the field,” said Goldshift. “A true master of soft shifting can perfectly imitate a face with nothing but a glance.”
“A glance, you say?” said Ironmind with a hint of skepticism. “Tell me, why is it so important that I learn this?”
“Well,” said Goldshift apologetically. “We have to face facts. I won’t be around forever.”
Ironmind paled. “Hey!” he said sharply. “Don’t talk like that. We can’t go into missions acting like we’re going to die.”
“Die?” asked Goldarms incredulously, crossing his arms. “I was talking about retirement. I’m not getting any younger, you know.”
Ironmind looked surprised for a moment, and then both of them chuckled.
“Sorry,” said Ironmind.
A moment later, Ironmind’s face grew dark. “Goldshift, do you… ever think we made a mistake leaving home?”
Goldshift looked surprised at first, but quickly shrugged. “Well, I didn’t. I came along to keep an eye on you young ones, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of it so far.”
Ironmind smiled. “That you have, old friend.”
“But as for whether or not the rest of you did,” Goldarms continued. “It depends. Do you think that what you’ve accomplished as superheroes is worth what you left behind?”
Ironmind considered it. “I don’t know. We’ve done a lot of good out there, but being superheroes didn’t mean we had to leave Partition City.”
“Didn’t we?” asked Goldshift. “We agreed that our skills were better suited to bounty work than city patrol.”
Ironmind considered the reasons why they’d agreed that. They didn’t have access to an efficient nonlethal takedown method. Anything outside of that was overkill for petty crime. Their ability to respond to crime quickly was also in question. They could enter the Iron Eagle at a moment’s notice. Leaving it wasn’t always so smooth, as their metal bodies could cause damage wherever they’d landed. Leaving the ship organic, by contrast, left them as sitting ducks.
The biggest reason they’d decided on bounty work rather than city patrol was their experience with mutants. They had gone mutant hunting a few times, and they’d discovered that, as a team, they worked better when they knew what they were up against and had a definitive plan. The times they’d tried to capture a mutant without much information rarely went smoothly. For this reason, they’d decided to focus on tracking down dangerous supervillains and mutants, be proactive rather than reactive.
And yet, a part of Ironmind wondered if he’d decided to leave home just to get away from the Valtarians who didn’t want them to be superheroes in the first place.
“I don’t know,” said Ironmind. “A part of me thinks that we could have protected Andy if we’d stayed home.”
“Or we would have been captured ourselves,” said Goldshift. “Listen, it’s pointless to dwell on the past. Let’s focus on saving Andy and think about our place as superheroes once he’s safe.”
Ironmind considered this, then nodded. “Sorry. You’re absolutely right. I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”
“Understandable,” said Goldarms, his voice going grim. “But you do need to keep your mind on the here and now if we’re going to get through this. I may have been joking about retirement, but I haven’t ruled out the other possibility.”
Ironmind regarded Goldshift with a thoughtful look.
###
Andrew Thornton watched the radar feed from his office, a frown set on his face. The Fullmetal Force was getting closer and closer. However, they weren’t heading straight to their bunker. They’d go past the bunker completely if they maintained their current course. Their information seemed incomplete, so if they waited it out, the Fullmetal Force might just pass them by.
A moment later, an intercom buzzed on his desk.
He tapped the button. “What is it?”
“Mr. Kimball is asking to see you,” said the other man.
Thornton looked at the radar again. After a moment’s thought, he concluded that he had all the information he needed for now.
“Send him in,” said Thornton.
Joseph Kimball entered the office cautiously, swallowing nervously. Andrew Thornton’s friendly smile did little to assuage Joseph’s hesitation.
“Come in!” said Thornton, waving him over. “Come in! Sit down, friend. What’s on your mind?”
“Well, sir,” said Joseph hesitantly as he sat down. “It’s about these trials.”
“What about them?”
Joseph considered his words carefully. “Well, I mean no disrespect but… these trials seem a bit strange to me.”
Thornton’s smile never wavered, but something about his posture did seem to stiffen suddenly.
“You disapprove of our methods?” asked Andrew.
“Well,” said Joseph. “I may be missing something, admittedly, but usually a trial has both sides represented, and evidence is shown to find who is in the right and who is in the wrong.”
“The power users are allowed to plead their case,” said Thornton. “Have I not allowed them to speak in their own defense?”
Joseph struggled to find the right words. “You have… but then you’ve set yourself up as both judge and jury. Doesn’t that seem a bit weighted to one side?”
“Is it?” asked Andrew. “These power users are born with gifts that grant them natural advantages in this life. Furthermore, because society is so desperate to make use of their gifts, they are given special treatment. People raise them on a pedestal and let them get away with anything. Why shouldn’t we tip the scales back in our favor?”
“People aren’t letting SteelStar get away with what he did,” said Joseph.
Thornton grew solemn. “You may be surprised.”
“I don’t know,” said Joseph. “I understand everything you’re saying, but I’m sorry. This whole thing just doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Andrew Thornton just sighed, and then slowly reached for his sunglasses. Once he removed them, Joseph Kimball paled at what he was seeing. Where Andrew Thornton’s eyes should have been, there were instead a pair of cameras, the black lenses shining in the light.
“Fair, you say?” said Thornton. “Was it fair when Lightblind took my eyes from me?”
“I…” Joseph stammered. “No… it wasn’t. I… I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t?” asked Thornton. “Then I’ll tell you about it. I used to be a mechanic, and sometimes I’d stay late to finish up a few things. I was working late one night when white lasers started blasting everywhere. I caught a glimpse of Lightblind before one of the blasts burned out my eyes. As I lay on the floor, wondering what had just happened, I heard the so called superhero say he was arresting me before stumbling over something and giggling like an idiot. He was drunk, and had mistaken me for a burglar.”
Joseph paled. “How could he get away with something like that?”
“Apparently he’d just gotten his powers,” said Thornton. “So he wasn’t known to the public yet. It was my word against his, so when he said that he wasn’t drunk and I attacked first, the jury took his side. On top of that, he signed up for the Safeguard Program not too long afterwords, so I figure the E.H.O.D. pulled some strings to keep the news media quiet. Lightblind didn’t enter hero work for over a year, but by then the story was well and truly buried.
“I was paid after the trial, but without my eyes, my career was over. I only found these implants after I formed the Sons of Purity, so as far as I’m concerned, Lightblind got off scot-free. To this day, so few people have even heard my story, and few reporters who talk about me even mention it. One power user kills another, and the world knows within a day. A power user blinds one of us, and the world averts its eyes.”
Thornton leaned forward, sneering. “So do not speak to me about fairness. The very existence of a power user is unfair to the rest of us. You should know that after what Demigoddess did you. She’s getting off scot-free too, you know. People make excuses for them because of the alleged good they can do, but the truth is that their great power gives them greater potential to cause damage. That great potential for damage deserves more scrutiny, not less. If the Sons of Purity can’t hold power users accountable, then who else will?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Joseph swallowed. “I… I see your point.”
Andrew regarded Joseph stoically for a moment with his mechanical eyes before replacing the sunglasses.
“Just wait until the end of these trials,” said Thornton. “I doubt Nosfeline and SteelStar will mount much of a defense for their crimes.”
“Sure,” said Joseph.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” said Thornton. “I have something to do. The trails will begin again soon enough.”
“Yes, sir.”
Joseph stood and left quickly, though he tried not to show how uncomfortable he was. Once he was gone, Thornton looked back at his computer screen. He’d keep an eye on the Fullmetal Force’s progress for a little while longer. Once he was certain they weren’t going to find them, he’d start the trials again.
###
SteelStar casually wondered why they were left alone. Sure, there were guards just outside the door of this room, but otherwise the power users were left unattended. Were they that confident in the cages they’d built? Or did the idea of power users make them so uncomfortable that they couldn’t share a room with one unless they had to?
Looking around, the other power users were silent. SteelStar didn’t want to think about what that meant, but seeing everyone’s grim faces, he was forced to come to the same conclusion they did. None of them had any idea how they could escape. He looked at the device still stuck into his arm, connecting him to the floor. If he could just get this off or reverse the electric flow…
“Were you really a supervillain once?”
SteelStar looked up, surprised by Inferno Man’s sudden question. Looking over, he found the question directed at Blacksting, who groaned audibly.
“As I told Thornton,” said Blacksting. “That was a long time ago.”
“But seriously,” said Inferno Man, grinning. “I never would have expected that. Does Paramount know?”
“Of course he does,” said Blacksting.
“So the U.H.E. harbors ex criminals, does it?”
Blacksting groaned.
“Lay off him,” said Green Angel. “A man seeking redemption is nothing to scoff at.”
Inferno man raised his hands and backed away as SteelStar turned to Green Angel in surprise. When Blacksting spoke again, he had surprise in his voice as well.
“Really?” asked Blacksting. “You really feel that way? I got the impression you didn’t approve of the U.H.E.’s methods.”
“I don’t,” said Green Angel. “But I can agree you’re better than the alternative. You, at least, don’t harm the innocent.”
“Well, thanks for that,” said Blacksting.
“I do,” said Green Angel hesitantly. “Wish you would take your redemption a little further.”
“Of course you do,” said Blacksting, resigned.
“Please,” said Beetle Brute. “Let him keep what little spine he has left.”
“Would you…” Blacksting started before sighing. “What’s the point?”
“The point,” said Green Angel. “Is that you changed, therefore others can too. There’s no reason your brother can’t redeem himself.”
Beetle Brute snorted disdainfully.
“There,” said Blacksting. “You see? If my brother wants to change, it has to be his idea.”
“You’re not even going to try and redeem him?” said Green Angel.
“My brother is not my master,” said Beetle Brute. “I control my own destiny, and I’ll remove anyone who gets in my way, even him.”
“And there it is,” said Blacksting. “He’ll kill to get what he wants. I only kill as a last resort, but if I must choose between killing him to save an innocent or letting him live based on the mere chance he might change, I’m going to save the innocent every time.”
Green Angel paled, and Beetle Brute grunted noncommittally.
“He’s right, you know,” said SteelStar. “You can’t save everyone, miss angel.”
Green Angel stiffened. “At least I try.”
SteelStar scowled. “You think I didn’t? I tried everything I could to stop Spectramancer without killing him. Nothing worked.”
“Why didn’t you keep trying?”
“Because a man died!” said SteelStar. “And more would have died if I hadn’t stopped Spectramancer.”
Green Angel nodded. “Yes, I heard about that.”
“But that proves the point,” said Blacksting. “You can’t stop everyone from dying. Sometimes you have to make a hard choice. I’m sure you know that better than anyone, SteelStar.”
SteelStar nodded to him gratefully, and Green Angel just crossed her arms and shook her head.
“Wait,” said Inferno Man. “Someone died? Spectramancer killed someone?”
SteelStar narrowed his eyes. “Where do you get your news?”
“Hammerhead news,” said Inferno Man.
“Figures,” said SteelStar. “The point is, when that man died, that’s when I knew I couldn’t hold back anymore. It was either let a hero kill hundreds of innocent people, or kill a hero to stop him.”
“Yeah,” said Beetle Brute. “Thanks for killing a hero for us.”
Both SteelStar and Blacksting replied, “Shut up!”
SteelStar sighed.
“I think Spectramancer deserved it.”
SteelStar turned to Nosfeline in shock, as did everyone else. Now the center of attention, Nosfeline crossed her arms and leaned against the glass wall of her cage, looking down.
“Yeah, you heard me,” said Nosfeline, looking at SteelStar. “That’s what I think.”
“Deserved it?” asked SteelStar incredulously. “Deserved it? He’d lost control of his powers!”
“And who was responsible for those powers if not him?” asked Nosfeline. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If he was having trouble controlling his anger, he should have retired. Plain and simple.”
SteelStar gaped at her. “How can you say that?”
Nosfeline regarded him curiously. “What did he say to you when he died?”
SteelStar hesitated. “He said I did the right thing.”
“Then he knew he deserved it too,” said Nosfeline.
SteelStar clenched his fists angrily. He wanted to argue, to tell her she was wrong, but the words to refute her wouldn’t come to him. Eventually, SteelStar simply crossed his arms and turned away. Nosfeline just sighed and looked down, while Green Angel gaped at her in shock. Blacksting just shook his head and closed his eyes, resting, while Beetle Brute rolled his eyes.
Inferno man looked around at everyone impatiently. “I don’t suppose anyone’s thought of an escape plan?”
Everyone else in the room glared at him.
“That’s what I thought,” said Inferno Man, putting his hands on his hips, looking down, and shaking his head.
###
Before long, the Sons of Purity began their trials again. This time the camera was pointed at Nosfeline, and as her face appeared on the defendant’s seat, the Sons of Purity began jeering. SteelStar watched with his arms crossed. He didn’t know much about Nosfeline aside from being a vampire hunter.
“Nosfeline,” said Thornton when the furor died down. “You are accused of being a vampire who preys on the innocent.”
Nosfeline brought her hands up to her mouth to mouth and shouted, “Wrong!”
The crowd booed, and Thornton stared at Nosfeline’s image sternly as he waited for the crowd to quiet down.
“No?” asked Thornton. “Do you not drink blood through your claws?”
“Drink by definition goes into the mouth,” said Nosfeline. “So no. Also, most vampires don’t have a heartbeat, which your doctor’s should know since they checked my vitals. I’m not a vampire, you idiot. I’m a human with vampire like abilities.”
“That you got from being bitten by a vampire,” Thornton countered.
“So you did look into me,” said Nosfeline, sighing. When she spoke again, she sounded resigned. “Okay, go ahead and throw my sordid past in my face.”
Thornton raised an eyebrow, and much of the crowd didn’t know what to make of that.
“Your real name is Chloe Drake,” said Thornton.
“What’s up?” asked Nosfeline casually.
“You struck up a friendship with a notorious vampire,” said Thornton. “We weren’t able to find his real name, but he often goes by Amarok.”
Nosfeline smiled, a hint of bitterness in her eyes as she planted her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said irritably. “Amarok. He was… he was something alright.”
“And you invited him into your home,” said Thornton. “Letting him murder your mother and two brothers. You are charged with their murder. How do you plead?”
“Insanity.”
SteelStar and the other power users raised an eyebrow. Andrew Thornton stared at her for a moment, and most of the crowd looked on in confusion.
“Well,” said Thornton. “That’s an interesting tactic.”
The audience chuckled, and Nosfeline just rolled her eyes.
“Care to explain that plea?” asked Thornton.
“Not to you, no,” said Nosfeline. “I will say this. It doesn’t matter what so called punishment you have planned for me. It will be nothing compared to the sight of my family dead at Amarok’s hands. There isn’t one thing in this cruel world that can cause me more suffering than that.”
The room was left in silence. Even those in the crowd that had jeered the loudest were rendered speechless, even as they glared angrily. Andrew Thornton, meanwhile, leaned forward, his voice barely a whisper.
“We’ll see,” said Thornton. “Verdict?!”
“Guilty!” the crowd shouted upon Thornton’s prompt.
Nosfeline just shrugged and leaned back against her glass cage. SteelStar watched her curiously, feeling sorry for what happened to her, but not sure what to make of her otherwise.
“Well, then,” said Thornton. “That leaves one more power user, and you all know who I’m talking about, don’t you? Quit the current topic, this one. Now, we move on to SteelStar.”
Soon it was SteelStar’s face on the screen in the defendant’s chair. He stared forward defiantly as the crowd jeered at him. Within the crowd, Joseph Kimball folded his hands, waiting patiently to see how this would play out. This was the superhero Thornton had commissioned him to help capture, and Joseph took that seriously.
“SteelStar,” said Thornton. “Everyone knows about you by now, and how you killed a famous superhero.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” said SteelStar.
“Didn’t you? I can agree that you stopped a dangerous power user from rampaging through a city, but I can’t ignore the other man who died that day. An individual by the name of Manny Turner.”
SteelStar took a deep breath. He’d been expecting them to bring him up. From the crowd, Joseph Kimball muttered, “who?” Spectramancer killed a man? That can’t be right.
“If you had killed Spectramancer sooner, then Manny Turner would still be alive,” said Thornton. “You are charged with his murder due to negligence. How do you plead?”
SteelStar had given this a fair bit of thought, and his answer came quickly. “Not guilty.”
The crowd booed him loudly. SteelStar didn’t flinch, however, but kept his eyes forward, not even gauging the reactions of the other power users in the room with him.
“Really?” asked Thornton skeptically when the booing died down. “You think you hold no responsibility for Manny Turner’s death?”
“No,” said SteelStar. “If I had known that Spectramancer would kill someone, I’d have stopped him sooner.”
“Then how do you justify a not guilty plea?”
“Because I didn’t know what would happen,” said SteelStar. “And the only way I would have killed Spectramancer sooner is if I wasn’t trying to save him along with everyone else. That’s not an attitude I can accept. I only killed him as a last resort. You’d have it be my first resort.”
Thornton pursed his lips. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Spectramancer has a far greater capacity for harm than a normal person.”
“And I don’t know if you noticed,” said SteelStar. “But I did kill him.”
“So you know he needed to die,” said Thornton. “Why couldn’t you have killed him sooner?”
“You…” SteelStar stammered, feeling his blood boil. “I wanted to save them both.”
“But you couldn’t,” said Thornton, a grin appearing at the corner of his mouth. “And you could have saved one of them if you had just killed the other.”
“I wanted to save both!” SteelStar shouted.
“And how did that work out for you?”
“Yes!” SteelStar shouted. “Someone died! I don’t need you to remind me of that!”
“I’m reminding you anyway,” said Thornton sternly. “You don’t get to escape the consequences of your actions, Power User.”
“I did the best I could!” SteelStar shouted.
“Oh!” said Thornton mockingly. “You did the best you could, did you? Well, you’re best resulted in a man dead, didn’t it?”
SteelStar clenched his fists. “It resulted in two men dead, or does Spectramancer not count?”
Thornton just smirked at him.
“Of course he doesn’t,” said SteelStar. “Not to you. Blacksting is right about you. You’ve haven’t built anything, you’ve just stolen from smarter men. You claim moral superiority over us, but you kidnapped us when we’ve done nothing to you. You know what I think? I think you’re jealous of us.”
Thornton frowned as the crowd booed loudly. SteelStar kept glaring as the crowd waved their fists and jeered. Joseph Kimball, from the crowd, watched in fascination. How could he have not known that Spectramancer killed a man? Looking around at the hate filled eyes around him, Joseph felt more uncomfortable than ever.
When the crowd finally quieted, Andrew Thornton leaned forward. “Jealous, am I?” He reached for his sunglasses. “Tell me…” he removed the glasses, revealing his camera eyes. “What could I possibly be jealous of?”
SteelStar looked up, surprised by what he was seeing.
“You think I’m jealous of the person who took my eyes?” Thornton demanded. “You think I’m jealous of those who lack even the most basic humanity? Who think that just because they were born with more power than others that they can do whatever they want? You think I’m Jealous of that?”
SteelStar took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for what happened to you. Really, I am, but it has nothing to do with me, or anyone else. You don’t have the right to do whatever you want any more than we do.”
This prompted the loudest boos of the night, and Andrew Thornton grimaced. Joseph Kimball watched SteelStar curiously, not certain what to think. The booing went on for a whole minute, with people shaking their fists and shouting their displeasure.
Andrew didn’t even wait for the crowd to finish. “SteelStar, I declare you guilty. Court is adjourned. I’ll figure out your sentences later.”
SteelStar didn’t flinch as the feed cut off. Back in their cells, every power user in the room, except for Beetle Brute, looked at SteelStar with some respect. SteelStar suddenly felt self conscience with everyone looking at him.
Back in the courtroom, Joseph Kimball sat there as everyone got up to leave, all grumbling angrily. As he looked around, Joseph thought about what all the power users had said, and what he’d learned about SteelStar’s case, and what he’d learned about Andrew Thornton. When he got back to his room, figured he should get on the internet and browse news sites.
He had some digging to do.